DESTINATION : HOLLYWOOD
5 THINGS TO DO IN HOLLYWOOD
LOS ANGELES
When people ask where the best place I’ve been is I always have a two part answer. The best and the place I would go back to. They aren’t the same.
Los Angeles was the place I sailed into, as my final port of call on a cruise, and I immediately knew I wanted to come back for more.
And I did!
I stayed for a week in 2016, and found plenty of things to do and places to see. There are plenty of things I left for another visit too!
Los Angeles as a destination is a big city, so I’ll start with the place I chose as my base for the week and 5 things to do in Hollywood!
HOLLYWOOD
For most people the word Hollywood conjures up images of American movies and the famous sign on the hill. It certainly does for me.
Hollywood is also a district of Los Angeles. Its surrounded by places with famous names like the Hollywood Hills, Studio City, Wilshire Boulevard and the Sunset Strip.
It seemed like a great place to base myself for a week exploring. For this list of things to do I’m going to include those surrounding areas under the category of Hollywood as well.
So I booked into Loews Hollywood Hotel. I had a room with floor to ceiling window views across the city, that looked as far as the skyscrapers of downtown LA. I could have paid more for a room with views of the Hollywood Sign, but I think I got the better deal.
The hotel is located off Hollywood & Highland. I love how Americans navigate by the places streets cross. And this address gives a clue to the first of my things to do in Hollywood!
1. HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
The celebrity stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame line Hollywood Boulevard, conveniently right outside my hotel.
It starts at N.La Brea Avenue with a monument to four leading ladies of Hollywood, five if you count the Marilyn Monroe statuette on top, and runs all the way down to Vine Street, famously marked by the iconic Capitol Records building.
It’s a long road to walk down, and the stars of the Walk of Fame extend up and down Vine Street too. There are a lot of them!
Stars were awarded in 5 different categories, each with its own symbol. You can spot them for motion pictures, radio, recording, television and live performance. In fact a 6th category of sports entertainment was created in 2021.
For something different the 1969 Moon landing qualified for the television category. Well it was a famous TV broadcast! Instead of stars the Apollo XI astronauts got the Moon!
There are plenty of other celebrity names to spot. Some appear more than once, having a star in more than one category.
I walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard lots of times during my visit. I spotted more than a few of my favourite stars alongside souvenir shops, bars, restaurants and Hollywood landmarks.
There is a lot more to see along the way, like the next of my things to do in Hollywood.
Helpful Hint : There are maps online if you really want to find a particular celebrity’s star.
2. THE CHINESE & DOLBY THEATRES
Another perk of my hotel’s location was being right nextdoor to two iconic Hollywood theatres.
If you think of Hollywood as a movie destination then you have to call here.
The Chinese Theatre, built in 1927, is a cool building to see, though smaller than I imagined. Like the Walk of Fame it honours film legends.
But instead of stars, here the honour is having your signature, hand and footprints immortalised in the concrete pavement outside the Chinese Theatre.
Stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, like Bob Hope and Shirley Temple, stand next to modern day heroes like the Harry Potter gang and my personal favourites C3PO and R2D2.
Nearby is the Dolby Theatre. Home to the Oscars.
The theatre is not as impressive to look at, but it is lined with lists of the best picture Oscar winner each year, so if nothing else you can spot the winner in the year you were born.
As well as sightseeing of course these are also performance venues. The Chinese Theatre is an IMAX cinema and the Dolby Theatre hosts concerts and events. I didn’t try either of these though.
3. LACMA ART GALLERY
Art
LACMA, or the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on Wilshire Boulevard, is one of those destinations I mentioned that is close to, rather than strictly in, Hollywood.
Nevertheless it is still well worth a visit, especially if you like modern art.
The first art installation you see is outside, a series of lampposts that I had no idea were quite so famous, until having visited them I saw their photo at every mention of Los Angeles.
I’m not sure how often the displays change. On my visit I saw a Picasso and one of Andy Warhol’s soup cans among many other paintings and works of art.
There was also a room dedicated to the Art of the Pacific, which given LA’s location on the Pacific Coast of the USA added local culture to my visit.
I love a trip to an art gallery and this was definitely worth the visit.
La Brea Tar Pits
And if you like a bit of natural history right next to it are the La Brea tar pits.
Here mammoths and sabre toothed cats were trapped and died, leaving their fossilised remains to be excavated today.
I did nothing more than wander through the park on my visit, but I believe things have changed in the last few years and there is more of an attraction.
It certainly looks like it will be worth another look next time I go to LA.
4. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Theme park…
America knows how to do theme parks. Hollywood movies are certainly a theme.
So there was no doubt that a theme park had to be on my list of things to do in Hollywood.
I had visited Universal Studios on a trip to Orlando, Florida, years before and loved it. So I headed out to Studio City to try the Hollywood version.
To some extent a return to the world of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter themed rides and Springfield, home of the Simpsons, was familiar. There were similar rides. No less enjoyable though!
I’m not hugely brave when it comes to roller coasters, but I’m getting more adventurous and this is so much fun! Just what you need on a holiday.
…and a Studio tour
However Universal Studios Hollywood is also part of a working film studio. That gives you the added opportunity to board a ride for the tour of the historic movie back lot.
But this is a theme park, so no dusty sets here.
From the town that is suddenly flooded, a western ghost town and the appearance of Jaws from the lake, there are moments of movie magic to see here.
I’d never watched the “Fast & Furious” films until my introduction to them on this tour. Turns out I’m a fan.
Then our trolley train became a ride itself as we entered a 3-D jungle where King Kong battled a T-Rex, with us just in the way. Amazing.
If you like the thrill of a theme park then this is definitely one for your list of things to do in Hollywood.
Top Tip : I had a 72 hour timed pass on one of the Hop On Hop Off buses that had a route to Universal Studios. I timed my transfer there on the last morning before the ticket ran out. I used this to visit LACMA too.
5. PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Theme parks are not on everyone’s list of things to do, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the movie studios in Hollywood.
A film studio tour at a much more leisurely pace is the one at Paramount Pictures.
Now please don’t read leisurely as boring. Far from it. Where Universal immerses you in action, Paramount feels like you are in a genuine film studio.
Swap out the trolley train with a hundred passengers for a golf cart holding 7 and our excellent, knowledgeable tour guide.
You see the Oscars the studio has won. Have a look at props from Paramount films like Transformers and Star Trek (I’m a huge fan and loved it!).
You pass by actual working studios. We didn’t see any celebrities filming on our tour, but its known to happen.
Being on a golf cart you can stop, get out, wander around, with interesting stories from the guide as you go.
The highlight for me was walking onto the back lot. This street set has appeared in more films than any actor. Suitably dressed you can be transported to New York city, Victorian days or small town America.
One of my favourite tales was of the large and small doors that were otherwise identical. Apparently in days when it wouldn’t do for a leading man to be shorter than his leading lady, even if it was true in real life, he entered through the short door to make him look taller. She used the larger one to complete the illusion. Movie magic indeed!
This may be number 5 on my list of things to do in Hollywood, but in reality I think the Paramount Pictures tour was one of the best things I did.
Highly recommended.
A BASE IN HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood Boulevard was a fantastic base for my trip to Los Angeles.
There were so many things to do within a short distance that you could just spend your time in Hollywood.
And these aren’t necessarily all of the best things to do in Hollywood, just the ones that I did on my visit.
But as I said I had a week in Los Angeles and there’s a lot more to this city than Hollywood.
Keep following the blog for 5 more Things to do in Los Angeles!
